We held a podcast with the Founder and Customer Happiness Manager of Regartis,
Mr. Tomas Novotny, MSc in a run-up to the Product Substance Management & Regulatory Compliance Conference, the third in the Material Management series.
Regartis provides services and advice for different industries to facilitate product compliance with national and international regulations. After successful assistance to companies with the CLP and BPR regulations, Regartis is prepared to share their expertise in light of the new Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation.
Mr. Tomas Novotny will be joining the conference with the presentation on ‘Practical Overview of Polymer Registrations Globally & in the EU’.
In the podcast, he discussed the potential implications of the EU sustainability and environmental protection strategies for businesses across industries. According to the expert, among multiple future agendas following new restrictions, polymer registration appears to be one of the most pressing ones for the industry. The reason for it is that hundreds of thousands of chemicals fall under this category, far exceeding obvious plastic materials.
Mr. Novotny predicts that the REACH regulations are going to restrict the usage of at least 10 to 20 thousand polymers. Moreover, he stresses that the regulation will not only affect companies that manufacture, import, and process high-concern chemicals, but also those working with low-concern substances due to more extensive assessment procedures. The implications for the material safety assessment will include the obligation to make comprehensive reports about the properties of a product, proving its low-risk status.
Given that NGOs and governments on the one side and representatives of the industry on the other side have different views on the most adequate amount of chemicals to be regulated by REACH, it is difficult to foresee what the final scope of the changes would be. However, it is Regartis’s expert opinion that the European Union will pursue the environmental protection agenda and that we should expect more restrictions. Mr. Novotny highlights that it might be a good idea for potentially affected businesses to look at the experience of different jurisdictions such as Canada, the US, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia to get general expectations about the final regulations.
Given that the finalized version of the REACH regulation is expected to be issued by the end of the year 2022, it is now high time for companies to begin monitoring the situation to be as prepared for the transition as possible. Attendees of the Product Substance Management & Regulatory Compliance Conference will undoubtedly receive more in-depth insight into what to expect in the future.
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